


Return to Water Seven

by Black_Wren



Series: Dark Sea Chronicles [8]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Getting a new ship, Hearts Pirates - Freeform, Other, Straw Hat Pirates, Traveling Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23010991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Wren/pseuds/Black_Wren
Summary: The Hearts Pirates and Straw Hat Pirates head to Water Seven to repair Thousand Sunny and get a new ship for Law and company, but can they survive the journey when there are 35 people crowded onto one ship?
Series: Dark Sea Chronicles [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603429
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	1. Part I

May 18 – June 18, 801 WG

By the time the Thousand Sunny rolled into Water Seven, everyone was about ready to murder one another. The Thousand Sunny may have held more room than the Polar Tang, or at least the illusion of it given it was an open deck design, but with two full crews onboard everyone was stepping on one another. All fine for parties but after a month even the party hard Straw Hats were at the breaking point.

The only reason everyone was holding out were the girls. No one wanted to behave badly in front of their pint-sized passengers. Or more accurately, everyone was holding out because of Lami. 

Law’s little sister was old enough to understand the stress everyone was under, and being the daughter of doctors, she was really good at finding ways to relieve their stress if only for a few minutes. A few sweet smiles, a couple of cheerful words and an offered snack lightened the recipient’s mood for a time. You couldn’t be grouchy with such an innocent sweetheart.

Ann, at the age of three, was still in the midst of early childhood selfishness and was, by contrast, not capable of relieving anyone’s stress. On the contrary, she added to it. Despite everyone’s best efforts, small children were sensitive to the moods of adults. Everyone being stressed and secretly grouchy made Ann openly grouchy. 

It didn’t take much to set her off. You refuse to do something she wanted, you do what she wanted but not quite the way she wanted. She’d ask for something then decide upon receiving it, it wasn’t actually what she wanted and demand something else. Etc.

Ann’s meltdowns were spectacular and, in some incidences, involved quite a bit of violence. Lami tried to appease the little girl only to wind up breaking down herself. Three-year-olds were amazingly stubborn about their foul moods and Lami did not possess an ounce of big-sister experience to know how to cope with the frustration of trying to appease the unappeasable. 

Luffy was completely out of his element. At first, he tried to be comforting and, if he had still been rubber, he might have been able to hold out. After all, the ear screaming could only hurt for so long before you went mercifully deaf. 

Unfortunately, he was not rubber anymore and Ann was a violent toddler. Law suspected Ace had been too, but there was no one present who could confirm that theory. 

Luffy was a real trooper, though. He tried to hold her despite the volatile tot giving him two black eyes, a busted nose, a split lip, several bruises to his stomach, a bitten ear and even a well-placed kick to the groin that leveled him for several minutes. Despite all his attempts to calm her down, he had no more luck than Lami in bringing an end to her fit. 

Lance had tried to help his godson, but Ann was having none of it. Becoming even more hazardous and somehow louder when Lance tried to placate her. Instead she moved her tantrum over to her worn down uncle, who found not even the bow of the ship could act as a refuge from his determined-to-make-everyone-miserable niece. Neither treats nor toys would bring an end to it.

Law was too busy reassuring his distraught sister to help and glared daggers at his little brother as the young man continued in vain to try to calm the girl.

Lance was at a loss about how a child could be so gleeful about being miserable. It said something about Ann’s tenacity for hellraising when the one member in the group with abundant hands-on parenting experience was flummoxed. 

Some wondered if she wasn’t instead taking joy in their misery and suggested a smack would shut her up. Talk like that was shut down by an infuriated Straw Hat captain who at last found a target to focus his pent-up frustrations with Ann on. Poor soul.

The tantrums ended only when she wore herself out and collapsed on the deck into sound sleep. This took a full thirty minutes to achieve and, considering her late father’s stamina for fighting, they considered themselves lucky.

After the seventh meltdown Luffy finally lost his temper, deciding that his grandfather might have been on to something with his “fist of love”. Nami, however, wasn’t about to let him punch a helpless toddler. Even if she was driving everyone batty.

This resulted in Luffy and Nami having the biggest row Law had ever witnessed. And he had witnessed some spectacular rows between couples, particular couples that were in the middle of divorce proceedings. 

The cook, the eternal lady’s man, tried to intervene on Nami’s behalf, only to be sent a mile out to sea and having to be rescued by Usopp who rushed over aboard the Little Merry. Who had sent Sanji flying was unclear as Nami and Luffy continued their verbal throw down with only the briefest of pauses and neither acknowledged their comrade’s intrusion into the battle. 

Meanwhile, Ann continued to shriek.

Lance, expressionless, walked over, picked up Ann with one hand and headed to the back of the ship where the women slept. He dropped the pint-sized terror onto her over fluffy bed and walked out, closing the door behind him. His final action was to sit down in front of the door and declare, “You’ll leave when you’re done.” 

Pounding fists and muffled howling was all that answered, but he didn’t budge. He then eyed Luffy and Nami, who were still going at it, shook his head, pulled out a pair of cotton balls and stuffed them into his ears.

Law didn’t blame the man. Domestic disputes were notoriously the most dangerous to intervene in. This one was no exception considering the fate of the Straw Hat’s cook. He, himself, was staying out of the squabble that seemed to have forgotten its purpose in the spirit of howling. At least, Nami wasn’t shooting lightning at her captain and Luffy wasn’t throwing fists. They still had some semblance of self-control.

Chopper hid in his office, distressed but not wanting to join Sanji at sea when the reindeer couldn’t swim. Sachi, the ginger haired man with the orca hat and the only other medically trained professional aside from Ikkaku and Law, joined him. 

Carrot, Bepo, the white bear mink, and Zoro retreated to the crow’s nest for the peace. Po, the panda zoan fruit eater, and Barceloni, a man with a tall black top hat and dark complexion, called a truce in their endless rivalry over ownership of the kitchen and withdrew to collaborate on a dish for all thirty-five occupants of the Thousand Sunny. If they successfully made a dish together Law would have to mark the occasion in his log. He hoped the kitchen survived.

Robin decided this was the perfect time to start a book club, Moto, a pudgy blonde man, Ikkaku, a woman wearing a yellow and orange beany, and Jean Bart, the largest of his crew, joined her. Moto, being the fan of all things romance and poetry since he couldn’t charm a lady to save his life, was not shocking. His tough as nails nurse and spymistress, Ikkaku and the one-time captain and slave, Jean Bart, was a different story. Maybe it was the lure of the earmuffs Robin was offering for the occasion? 

Shiroe, his glasses wearing tactics chief, and Pinch, his bald bookkeeper, vanished somewhere inside muttering about budgets and plans. How many times did moneygrubbing Pinch need go over their budget when they literally had nothing to spend their rewards on until they reached Water Seven? Shiroe, Law’s resident over organizer and planner of all things not hair-brained, was probably going over his plans again for the specifications of a new submarine. He wasn’t a designer, but he could draw up what they needed by thinking about future engagements and then throw the whole thing at Uni to work out with Clione and Honda.

Speaking of Uni. The shipwright, who was forever wearing a striped mask over his lower face, had vanished into the depth of the ship with Franky to tinker. Clione, who wore a semi-pointy purple hood over his dirty blonde hair, was not far behind. Usopp returned to the below deck shop after recovering the waterlogged Sanji. The cook looked like he was ready for round two with trying to interfere with the pair, but an extra set of hands materialized on his back and knocked him out before he could be sent flying again. 

Meanwhile, Honda, the hotshot helmsman with mile-long black bangs held up by an unknown amount of hair gel, had made off with the shark-submarine with Rugby, a man with the green cap, and Jojo, possessor of spiky brown hair, in tow. Probably the wisest course of action, given the two meatheads were usually the first to start shit. 

Speaking of starting shit, Iago, in his black bowler cap, leaned against the railing with Penelope, who wore a yellow cap over brown chest-length pigtails, and Penguin, with his distinctive hat bearing his name, eating tangerines. Law grimaced. Those were Nami’s tangerines fresh from her tree. This would not end well once the navigator noticed.

Ghost, who was forever wearing a Noh mask, was near the bow running through a reenactment of his favorite Noh play. Somehow he managed to act out every part despite being the only actor. Barnaby, who had pointy ears and brown hair styled in the shape of a heart, sat on the stairs below casting grim disapproval on Luffy and Nami as they continued to shout. He then cast a meaningful look at his captain. What that meaning was Law didn’t know. Or more accurately, he stubbornly refused to translate. That business was strictly between captain and navigator and, as long as they didn’t actually try to kill each other, it was probably best to just let them blow steam.

Brook had decided music was the answer to everything and kept playing no matter how much everyone ignored him. Jinbei stayed at the helm, while groaning over the whole spectacle. Conical, possessing a stoic nature and long black hair that ended in a heart shape pointed straight up, stood next to him making notes in his observation book. Conical treated the whole world like it was one big observation platform to study the local wildlife called humans. There were times that Law thought the man was a visitor from outer space.

Law hung out near the other former warlord, as the stern seemed to be the most peaceful with the mature Jinbei dutifully attending the helm, Conical’s pen scratching and Robin’s book club the only activity located there. The bow was Luffy’s territory and he really seemed like he needed his space. The fight had come to an end with his brother storming over to the lion figure head and throwing himself onto his preferred seat. A glare at the rest of ship dared anyone to come over and disturb him. Ghost made a dramatic leap that may or may not have been in the play and landed on the main part of the deck before continuing with his over the top reenactment. Barnaby scooched down a few more levels on the stairs. 

Nami still looked ready for mortal combat with the way she was clutching her staff but refrained from blasting her captain with lightning. Instead she went to tend to her precious tangerine trees. 

Which anticipated proverbial flying shit struck the fan, starting a whole new round of battles when she discovered her trees had been pilfered of their precious fruits. She immediately went after all Hearts Pirates not currently away or hiding. Her crewmates knew better than to touch her trees without permission.

Law, of course, couldn’t allow anyone to attack his crew even if it was justified. He had realized with one glance the first time he was on the Thousand Sunny that the trees were not to be messed with. The presence of the tangerines on a ship that contained the veracious Straw Hat Luffy was proof enough the fruits were off limits. And that that limit was enforced with great violence.

This got the self-proclaimed lady’s man, unfortunately recovered, to come after the Surgeon of Death to defend the honor of fair navigator. Whom didn’t need defending. Her lightning was a pain in the ass to deal with. The outraged cook’s kicks on the other hand were much easier to negotiate. So Sanji was actually getting in the way of Nami’s Hearts Pirates’ bashing.

Zoro came down only because the evolving brawl looked like fun. It was also another chance for him to go toe-to-toe with the perverted cook, his preferred target when no enemies were about. Jinbei seemed to be of half a mind to jump overboard but was too dutiful to abandon his post. Robin’s book club went on unperturbed. The earmuffs probably had something to do with that. Conical continued recording his observations. Seriously? How does the man write without sparing a second to look at the page? 

Lami had retreated to Lance’s side since he had gone full vice-admiral with his aura, and everyone was instinctively giving him five feet of space despite the rising chaos. Carrot and Bepo swooped down to join a minute after Zoro for reasons unknown. Minks were a warrior race, maybe that had something to do with it. 

Luffy displayed what was rapidly being recognized as postmortem restraint by doing no more than watching the entire war with both confusion and dismay. Or maybe that restraint had something to do with Lance’s death glare that was currently leveled on him. Evidence suggested the later since Luffy chose to duck and cover as if his grandfather had just boarded. 

The guys that shanghaied the mini sub swung by just long enough to realize now was not the time to return and went back out again. Chopper actually exited his office and went big foot mode, the form he turns into when he’s trying to look human and failing, and started trying to separate combatants. 

“Knock it off! Friends should not be trying to kill each other!” the reindeer roared as bodies flew in all directions but over the railing. This proclamation ignored the fact that if homicide was the intention, there would be a hell of a lot more blood. It also ignored the fact that the good doctor was doing twice as much damage to the combatants as they were doing to each other.

It wasn’t until one spectacularly explosive strike, from whom no one knew, that rocked the ship, sent smoke into the air and nearly threw Luffy from his perch on the figurehead, that it all came to an end. Franky emerged from the interior in his General Franky armor, temper boiling.

“How dare you scumbags damage Sunny with your stupid fighting?! That’s super not cool!” he shouted as he swung large mechanical arms that did knock people off the ship. This resulted in several minutes of everyone dodging while trying to rescue crew that may or may not have been able to swim.

Everyone split up after that, bruised, dripping wet and in sore need of a shower, and peace was restored… for the moment.

And what a short moment it was.

When Ann was let out of her room, it revealed the little girl had spent her wrath on her helpless belongings. Her pillows were defeathered and the down was all over the room, the blanket was in shreds, the books were torn apart, her clothes were unwearable and even Baby Bepo, her stuffed bear, had its head torn off. Bepo, the mink, fainted at the sight, Penelope had to be comforted as she dissolved into uncontrollable weeping and Law looked like he was barely containing the urge to cut something. Robin was scandalized when she saw the state of Mother Goose. Lance face palmed at the sight.

Ann looked at her uncle, held up two piece of the cover Snow White and said in the most pompous tone a three-year-old could muster, “Ji-kun, everything’s broke, fix it!”

Luffy was dragged away before he did something regrettable in response. 

Carrot took the bear as an act of mercy to both the stuffed bear and her fellow mink, also out of respect to Law and his crew that had provided it, and went off to fix it. 

In regard to everything else in the room including the bits of book she was holding, Robin just managed to remain calm while replying, “That is not possible, Ann. There is no way to fix something that’s that broken, and we are still weeks away from any island where we can buy replacements.”

In typical three-year-old fashion where logic is an even more foreign concept than it was to Luffy, Ann shook the covers, stomped her foot, puffed her cheeks and shouted, “FIX IT, NOW!”

“We can’t!” stated Robin and breezed past the outraged child to collect every scrap of the destroyed books. She then left the room to give them a full funeral at sea, even asking Brook to play the unfortunate victims of the toddler’s wrath a eulogy. Brook obliged. 

“NO! FIX IT!” Ann howled but Robin finished her grim task of laying Snow White, Cinderella and the rest of the fairy tale collection to rest.

Sanji and Usopp had the demoralizing task of cleaning out the rest of the carnage, revealing that Ann had located her spare sheets, the women’s sheets, their pillows and their clothes and destroyed them as well. 

“What the hell?!” gasped Usopp as he brought forth another armful of torn rags that had once been a fine dress. “What are the girls supposed to wear until we get to port?” 

“What we’re wearing currently,” stated Nami with a resigned sigh.

“No way! You guys give us your sheets and some outfits! I don’t care if I have to wash them first!” yelled Ikakku. “That will still be a million times better than wearing the same outfit every day and at night.” 

She turned to glare at her captain. “Give me your Corazon coat!”

“Why would I give you my coat?” responded Law clutching his coat in case she tried to strip it from his shoulders.

“I need it for nightwear. I’m not sleeping nude!”

Sanji bled all over his bundle of wreckage at Ikakku’s statement of nude sleeping.

Usopp looked Ikkaku up and down and said, “You wear something other than a jumpsuit?” Ikkaku drew her nun-chucks and tore after the Straw Hat’s sniper who somehow led her on a merry chase around the crowded Sunny.

“I’m suddenly glad I keep my books in my study and not in my sleeping chambers,” said Robin.

“Eh?!” Nami blanched and ran into the room. Sure enough, the destruction had not spared anything of hers. She had to be restrained, her staff taken away, when she saw what had become of her charts and quills.

Lami stared at the ruin of what she was supposed to be using as sleeping quarters and said in the blandest tone Law had ever her speak, “Isn’t this the time where bad kids find themselves lying across a knee?”

Ann was still huffing and puffing over all her things being thrown out and was oblivious to how everyone stared at her at Lami’s question.

“I don’t advocate violence on children as a means to control them, however, I have never seen a child be so methodical and excessive with their destruction,” said Lance as he pulled off his gloves and began rolling up his sleeves. “Time for an exception.”

It was an awkward afternoon and dinner following that.

*********************************

Inevitably the cycle repeated itself every few days, sans destruction by pint sized terror. Nami’s tangerine trees were once again the epicenter of all conflicts. They escaped without losing so much as a leaf in the resulting brawls, the fruit however would not recover until after the crews separated. 

You would think the tangerine issue would have resolved itself after the first time, but no, it remained part of the cycle, spurring the brawl into existence each and every time. 

Meanwhile, Robin’s book club became fluent in sign language and experts at charades as they had to continue to conduct their meetings in earmuffs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up having to look up the Hearts Pirates and learning that most of them are unnamed and a few are unidentified. The group shot where all twenty of them pose when meeting Luffy in the anime is the only one that has everyone and several aren't considered cannon because that group shot apparently doesn't happen in the manga.
> 
> Well I took the anime group shot, matched up everyone that had a name, then went and made new names for the rest and gave them all a profile and occupation on the ship. So the little quick identifiers when the names pop up the first time is to help pick them up out of the anime group shot.
> 
> I may have also resolved an issue I was going to have later on. Which means there is another story to explain that somewhere down the road.


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive in Water Seven and different kinds of trouble appears there.

So when they at last rolled into the backside of Water Seven to dock, even the Thousand Sunny looked relieved. Various members of both crews threw themselves off the ship to lie spread eagle on the dirt beyond. Grateful for the room to stretch.

Iceburg wondered over a couple hours later, after hearing of their arrival. He and Paulie were a bit shocked to see the crews lying in the mud as if they had all been hit with knockout gas. Franky, Usopp and Uni hammered away on the Thousand Sunny that was in sore need of more than a fresh paint job. Honda and Clione were giving the shark sub some maintenance since Honda ran it ragged while trying to stay out from underfoot. Conical stood on the deck taking his notes.

Lance was standing guard and enjoying the quiet. He hadn’t seen a threat in Iceburg and probably recalled him from the newspapers. Either way, he hadn’t challenged the man when he appeared.

“What happened here?” asked Iceburg as he and Paulie gingerly stepped between the prone figures. They were far enough apart that it only took a little zigzagging to avoid outstretched limbs and bodies.

“Iceburg, super nice to see you,” said Franky as he turned away from his work. “Tra-o lost his ship while we were fighting Pluton at Alabasta. He needs a new one. It’s super not cool to travel with two full crews on one ship.” He pointed at the prone man in the purple shirt with a matching feather collar that had found one of the only spots on the land that was grassy instead of muddy. Lami was flopped across his torso and the siblings were snoozing away. Luffy was next to him, or at least his head was, his legs were spread in the opposite direction. While Ann had copied Lami.

Iceburg blanched at the mention of the ancient weapon. 

“Pluton. You were fighting against Pluton, huh,” said the much-loved mayor of Water Seven. “I read the report in the newspaper, but it had seemed off to me. Because of what happened to us two years ago, there’s no way I could believe a story of the World Government destroying the weapon they craved owning. I can’t see them destroying it to save a nation, especially one that has been out of favor since Reverie.”

“They certainly don’t have any qualms about destroying nations or killing innocents, even if they weren’t out of favor,” said Uni without turning from his work. “They’ve done it often enough already.”

“… I think I need to hear the whole story, if you don’t mind,” said Iceburg.

“You don’t believe us, do you?” said Honda. He and Clione pausing in their work to glare at Iceburg. They didn’t know the man so didn’t know it was mere curiosity and not doubt that fueled his statement.

“He super doesn’t mean it that way,” said Franky, raising a hammer at the pair.

“I’ve known Franky since we were both Tom’s apprentices,” said Iceburg waving a placating hand to the Hearts Pirates. “I know he wouldn’t lie to me. He’s too straightforward a person for that.”

Franky grinned and the two pirates settled down at Iceburg’s explanation.

“Being that you helped settle Pluton, I have no qualms about using all my connections to help find a new ship for the Hearts Pirates. Considering Pluton was our responsibility, knowing it’s gone from the world is a relief. I owe you both for taking care of that and saving a nation from becoming its victim.”

“Super fantastic idea, Iceburg, but I think Tra-o will probably want a brand new one. His old one was a submarine, after all,” said Franky.

“Ah, I see,” replied Iceburg. “Submarines are still too new, despite the recent surge in popularity among pirates, to find them second hand. This will be an interesting challenge.” 

“You never got commissioned to build one for the Marines despite all the super battleships you produce for them?”

Iceburg shook his head. “The Marines have submarines of their own?”

“It’s why our ship took the beating it did,” replied Uni, still tending to his repairs. “Ordinarily we would have the advantage by being safely underwater, but there were seventeen combat submarines escorting Pluton along with fifteen battleships. Only reason Thousand Sunny here didn’t suffer the same fate was due to the whale and that man over there guiding their actions.” The Hearts Pirates shipwright jerked a thumb at Lance who grinned as he gave them a friendly wave of acknowledgement.

It was still hard for Franky to believe the friendly man from a fur town on a backwater fall island in New World was once a vice-admiral of such renown that he was able to talk the Gorosei, never mind actually get them to talk to him in the first place, out of destroying Alabasta after he played a vital role in destroying Pluton. The fact that he was even allowed to walk free was the third star of miracle-level awesomeness for, by all appearance upon first meeting, an easy-going family man. 

Did he mention that Lance was also one-time best friends with Dragon and Luffy’s godfather? 

Suited up in his light armor with his claymore tied to his back, he looked more the part of former vice-admiral than his usual attire did. Still that revelation had been about as shocking as learning that Garp the Fist, Hero of the Marines, was Luffy’s grandfather. Then there was Baroness Goldenrei for a grandmother, Revolutionary Leader father, the Second Division Commander of White Beard big brother, the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army other big brother... 

Okay, anyone who claimed a familial connection to Luffy was going to be a super big deal with a super lax day-to-day attitude, with maybe the exception of Dragon. The real shock lay with Lance having a familial bond to Luffy. How many more big-time family members, whether by blood or by bond, had still to reveal themselves? Franky hoped that was it.

“It’s not something that I can do entirely for free,” continued Iceburg, looking troubled. “I have a business to run. I can offer discounts, though.”

“He has funds. Alabasta was super rather generous,” replied Franky.

“I imagine so,” said Iceburg. “I cannot begin to consider what kind of reward I would think worthy of protecting Water Seven from Pluton. I hope this kingdom hasn’t been beggared by their gratitude. I’ll do everything I can to get the most from every beri.”

******************************

Once Law regained consciousness, he was indeed more interested in building a new ship than in buying one. Uni and Law both designed the Polar Tang and they were very interested in being involved in whatever new ship Iceburg was thinking of building. 

“You were the designer of your last ship?” asked Iceburg and Uni nodded. “Excellent. That will make things easier for my company. Your assistance would be most appreciated when designing and building your new submarine. Do you have an idea in mind?”

Uni walked over to his glasses-wearing shipmate, who still seemed comatose in the mud. He nudged him with a boot. Shiroe groaned. “Oi, where are the plans for the new submarine?” the shipwright asked.

“What plans?” returned the tactician as he sat up, pulling his glasses away from his face to squint at them.

“You’ve been going on all month about specification for the new sub. Don’t tell you were blowing smoke the whole time,” said Uni, irritation showing.

“Oh those,” Shiroe replied as reached into his jumpsuit. “I have the specification right here. Why didn’t ask about them first?”

“I did,” snapped Uni as he snatched the note pad from the man still sitting in the mud.

Law rolled his eyes. Shiroe could be dense with nuances. He had probably thought Uni was expecting him to produce full ship plans that just needed to be executed and Uni was just talking about his notes on what would be expected of the new submarine given various circumstance ranging from the everyday to battle situations. Uni was too general for Shiroe sometimes.

Law glanced then at the battered Thousand Sunny. She had survived the battle but just barely. While the flying feature and her internal docking system was extremely useful, if they were going to be facing more battles of similar magnitude in the future, his little brother would probably do better to get a more combat oriented ship. Sunny would still have a purpose but probably should be regulated to a more minor role.

“Luffy-ya, I think you should get a new ship while we’re here as well and retire this one,” said Law.

He expected some resistance to his suggestion, the Straw Hats were a sentimental bunch, but the shitstorm that erupted…

Luffy sprinted to Thousand Sunny and plastered himself to the hull, arms outstretched, and howled, “Over my dead body are we getting rid of Thousand Sunny! She’s still in one piece and capable of sailing. I’m not throwing her away for any reason.”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Law yelled back. He then had to dodge a shot from Usopp who was howling obscenities at him. “Will you wait and listen!”

The sniper was having none of it. It seemed like he was trying to say something in response, but the man was too upset for anything he uttered to be remotely understandable. He continued to shoot fire stars and green stars at the Surgeon of Death. Law really had to dance to escape the bite radius of the man-eating plants the green stars produced on top of avoiding burning flares of fire stars.

His crew rose up to come to their captain’s defense, but the matter was settled a second later when Franky reached out and engulfed Usopp’s head with one over sized hand. Thus the impending threat of another brawl was negated.

“He said ‘retire’ not ‘disassemble’. There are super hundreds of ways to retire a ship while still keeping it,” said Franky. Muffled shouts could be heard from with the palm as Usopp punched at the restraining hand.

“I’m still not trading in Sunny,” stated Luffy, crossing his arms, Monkey D. stubbornness on full display. He seemed calmer than before, so he was actually listening. Which was more than could be said of his sniper. Franky didn’t release him.

“Still, Tra-o, that was super quite the landmine you stepped on with that suggestion,” said Franky.

“I see that. I won’t bring it up again. It was just a suggestion anyway considering what we’ll be facing in the future.”

Franky tilted his head. “You have a point. Maybe I’ll work on something that I can present to Luffy later if things really start to become too hot for Sunny.”

Once night fell, they moved the Thousand Sunny to a secluded shipyard for repairs, well away from where the government ships were being built. Iceburg’s men could get the Thousand Sunny back to pristine condition. Her keel was still intact. The crew all sighed in relief upon hearing the news.

********************

The next snag occurred when they were designing the new submarine and Nami suggested they make a cabin that was specifically for Lami, since she was traveling with them. 

Law balked at first. “My sister was only with us because we didn’t have time to return to Mendora before heading to Alabasta. Once we reach Mendora, she’ll be staying there with her friends. Not traveling with me. So there is no point building a room designed for her when she’ll be traveling with me for only a couple more months.”

This was where Lami decided to put her delicate eight-year-old foot down. “Big Brother! No! I don’t want to stay on Mendora! I want to stay with you!”

“Lami, I’m a pirate,” argued Law. “I sail and end up in fights, with the way things are going, the battles will just become more frequent and more intense. There is no way, I’m risking you by bringing with me.”

“That just means you are going to be at sea a lot,” countered Lami. “I’ve already lost sixteen years of being with you. I refuse to lose another second!”

“You weren’t even awake for those sixteen years. You’ve lost nothing.”

“I LOST YOU! I WAKE UP TO FIND YOU ALMOST AS OLD AS DADDY! WE CAN’T DO ALL THE THINGS WE ONCE DID TOGETHER BECAUSE YOU’RE SO OLD!” Lami dissolved into tears and began wailing, with intermittent cries of “OLD!”

Law twitched and everyone else would have started laughing if Ann hadn’t joined in a second later, by all appearances, for the sheer pleasure of shrieking. She had decided that if Lami was mad then there was something to be mad about. And she was well practiced with being mad. She quickly devolved into a full throw-herself-on-the-ground tantrum to which no one dared approach. Lami at least remained on her feet.

Luffy looked like he could have murdered Law at that moment. With all the tantrums Ann had been throwing, the Straw Hat captain was at his wits’ end. At least she wasn’t destroying anything else. Lance’s version of “tough love” had cured her of that inclination. 

Oh that’s right they still had to go buy all new, bedding, clothes, chart paper and quills and children’s books. The rest of the Straw Hats suddenly didn’t look like laughing anymore.

“All right. All right! I’m still not dragging you all over New World, but your own room would allow you travel more comfortably until we return to Mendora. As well as when I do you take you out with me,” conceded Law.

His little sister promptly stopped howling and threw herself at him. With a kiss to his cheek she declared, “I love you, Big Brother. You’re the bestest!” Law felt conned but there was no taking it back now. His crew sniggered until he glared at them. Then sniggered even more once he turned away.

Ann, meanwhile, held out for thirty seconds more before realizing she was alone in her outrage and quieted out of confusion.

The new submarine was larger, giving more elbow room to the crew, especially Jean Bart who had been an incredibly good sport since joining two years ago. It was also swifter and tougher than Polar Tang. She also had a bit more fighting capacity. She wasn’t as dedicated as the Marines’ war submarines, but she would be able to punch harder.

When it came time for the ship to be given a name Lami declared the submarine should be called Sora’s Fist after the hero from the Germa 66 comic. Law twitched but let it stand. The Straw Hats all fell over laughing to Lami and Iceburg’s confusion.

*****************************

The Straw Hats were going over the final repairs for their ship with the Galley La members. Law was chilling nearby since his ship was still under construction.

“By the way,” said Paulie after he finished his assessment of the Thousand Sunny. “Do you know what’s going on with your allies?”

“Huh? No, what’s up?” replied Luffy. Paulie handed him the day’s newspaper. It described an incident where members of the Straw Hat Grandfleet had attacked a Marine battleship. The article explained further in that it was part of a series of attacks that had been going on for a while. The number of hits it calculated caused Luffy to yelp. Nami snatched the paper from him and began reading out loud, he hadn’t been sharing. Everyone shrieked when she reached the same spot in the article.

“What the hell are they doing?!” cried Luffy recovering his voice first. Law was face palming.

“I thought you guys would know,” said Paulie. “They’ve been at it for months and they ransacked several bases as well. From what’s being reported, they aren’t hitting targets more than once. Marine Headquarters has been pulling men from the other blues to try to cover for the gaps in personal and now chaos is spreading to everywhere else as there aren’t enough Marines left to keep the pirate problem there in check.”

“When did this start?” asked Usopp, his face pale. 

Paulie thought for a moment as the other continued to come the newspaper for more information. “I’d say about mid-February was when the first attacks were reported.”

Luffy blanched. That was right about when he died. Was this in response to his vivre cards burning up?

“How did we miss these reports?” cried Nami.

“We were first sailing in unoccupied seas so the New Coos would not have been traveling there,” said Robin. “It’s like when we were in the Florain Triangle and missed Ace’s capture and when we were in Wano and missed the dust up in Reverie.” 

Everyone’s face darkened at the mention of Luffy’s late brother. If only they had realized then what had happened to Ace, maybe they could have… Well there was no point in dwelling on things they couldn’t change.

“Then we were in the belly of a certain whale,” said Law. Everyone grew gloomier. The man grimaced, there was just no way to avoid depressing subjects right now.

“We were busy with Alabasta,” said Sanji, “but why not afterwards?”

“We were fighting so much maybe the New Coos overflew us thinking it was a battle in progress,” suggested Ikkaku.

“That’s probably what happened,” groaned Jinbei.

“Should we contact them?” asked Chopper.

Before anyone could respond one way or the other, the den den mushi began to ring. The timing of it made everyone jump. Before anyone could stop him, the Straw Hat’s captain picked up the receiver.

“Hello, this is Monkey D. Luffy, I’m going to be King of the Pirates,” Luffy answered to the amusement of all listeners.

The wailing of “Luffy-senpai!” announced to those who unfortunately knew him that the speaker on the other end was Bartolomeo. A captain from the Grandfleet had finally called. Luffy was curious as to why they had taken so long to call then cast a suspicious look at his crew who suddenly found everything more interesting than him. 

Ahhh… They’d been refusing to answer any calls and left the Grandfleet deliberately in the dark. Well that decision was certainly coming back to bite them all in the ass. He really should have called sooner. Fuck.

“Going?” Law raised an eyebrow at his little brother and Luffy stuck his tongue out at the other captain. This was not the time to announce what he had found. And definitely not time to lay claim to any such title. Thus his old catch phrase was still valid. Besides he had said it on habit. It was kind of hard to not do something you’d been doing for twelve years.

“Is that Law? What the hell is that man doing on Luffy-senpai’s ship?” Bartolomeo spat.

“Hello to you, too, Crest Head” Law called just to be an ass before Luffy could respond.

“YOU DON’T GET TO CALL ME THAT!” The den den mushi jumped in his hands at Bartolomeo’s shout and Luffy flinched. His poor scream damaged ears throbbed in protest at the shouting.

“Well about that…” started Luffy, glaring at Law. Law somehow managed to look completely innocent. Which the Straw Hat captain decided was more disturbing than the expression he wore when he was plotting something.

“Is this line secure?” cried Nami, diving for the receiver and stopping Luffy mid-sentence by slamming into him.

“Nami!” cried the Straw Hat captain when he nearly fell over but managed to keep the receiver in hand. This was his conversation.

“Is it?” She demanded, hands on hips and glaring at Luffy. Luffy glared back. What was her problem?

“No. Why? What happened, Nami-senpai? The vivre card just vanished one night. Why did it vanish?” Bartolomeo began sobbing and rest of what he said could barely be understood.

Crap. The way Bartolomeo idolized him the man would be the first to notice his vivre card had vanished. Everyone else might not have for a few weeks but not the Barto Club Pirates. No wonder things got hot in New World within days of Luffy dying.

He really should have called them. No matter what the risks, he should have let them know he was okay at least. The more complicated talk could happen later. Because he hadn’t his name had been plastered all over the front page for the last few months and was linked with the destruction of several Marine bases and battleships. None of this was good while he was in his current condition. He needed less publicity right now, not more of it.

“Lots of stuff happened and…” Luffy started only to be cut off again when his navigator successfully snatched the receiver from him. “Nami!”

“Not over an unsecured line!” she barked at him. “We don’t want the whole eavesdropping ocean to hear this.” Luffy hunched his shoulders at her reprimand. She had a point and he felt the fool for not realizing it sooner. 

She turned her attention to the Barto Club Pirate’s captain. “We’ll tell you all about it at that place.” Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

That confusion was echoed by Bartolomeo. “That place?” 

“That place!” Nami shouted, stressing the words. She was speaking come kind of code that wouldn’t give them away to eavesdropping Marines, but what they hell was she referring to?! 

“But,” she continued, oblivious to Luffy’s frustration, “it will be a few weeks before we can get there so don’t cause Leo and the others any trouble if you have to wait.”

Leo? What did Leo have to do with…? Then his under worked brain finally produced an answer. Dressrosa. The place where Bartolomeo and the others had first sworn loyalty to Luffy against his wishes.

“Oh… That place.” Bartolomeo said like he too had just managed to make the connection and not say the name of Dressrosa out loud. “I understand Nami-senpai, we’ll meet at that place.”

The line went silent as Bartolomeo hung up and Nami returned the receiver to its cradle.

“So I guess we’re detouring to Dressrosa, then,” said Luffy.

“Yep, no helping it,” sighed Nami.

“You were going to have to face the fleet at some point,” said Law. “It’s probably just as well we get this over with now. At least I’ll be there to back you up.”

“I wonder if Bartolomeo’s attitude toward you will change once we tell them we’re sworn brothers,” said Luffy giving his brother a fiendish grin.

Law grimaced and said, “I hope not.”

************************

A few days later they headed off to Saboady Archipelago. Despite being able to travel faster, Sora’s Fist sailed at the surface near Thousand Sunny. The Florian Triangle was coming up and while Law could have just sailed beneath the troubled sea, he was not leaving his brother to fend for himself with whatever had taken out the Rumbar Pirates half a century earlier. Moria may be gone but other threats remained that were far more dangerous than a zombie island. Fortunately, they were able to skirt around the fog since no one felt like tempting fate this time by sailing through it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story continues in "Back at Shakky's Rip-Off Bar" where Luffy confronts Rayleigh about what happened in Raftel.


End file.
